Dictionary

bidon en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈbidɑn/ (General-American)
• /ˈbiːdɒn/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /-dɒ̃/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Borrowed from French bidon (“can, canister, tin”), from Middle French bidon (“small sealed portable container made of metal or wood”), from Old Norse *biða (“container, vessel”), from Proto-Germanic *bidōn, *bidjan (“tub, vat; vessel”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰidʰ- (“barrel; bucket; pot”), from *bʰeydʰ- (“to bind; to weave”).

Meanings

1. A bottle or flask for holding a beverage such as water or wine; (specifically, sports) a water bottle which can be squeezed to squirt the beverage out of the nozzle, especially (cycling) one designed for mounting on a bicycle.
   • I was awakened by a noise of eating. My protectors, knife in hand, were consuming their meat and bread, occasionally tilting their bidons on high and absorbing the thin streams which spurted therefrom. […] The older [man] appeared pleased with my appetite; his face softened still more, as he remarked: "Bread without wine doesn't taste good," and proffered his bidon. I drank as much as I dared, and thanked him: "Ça va mieux." 1922, E[dward] E[stlin] Cummings, “A Pilgrim’s Progress”, in The Enormous Room, New York, N.Y.: Boni and Liveright, →OCLC, page 48:
   • […] Bram De Groot, a domestique with the Dutch Rabobank team, drops out the back, one arm in the air. The team car responds instantly, swinging out of the line of support vehicles behind the peloton and racing, klaxon sounding, up to De Groot. The window opens and a hand emerges with a bidon (plastic drinks bottle). De Groot places it in his back pocket and the hand emerges with another. This one goes down the back of his shirt, and it is joined by five more. Then off he sprints to deliver them to thirsty team-mates. De Groot is one of the domestiques and this is their lot. They continually drop off, collecting bidons and sprinting back into the peloton with grotesquely bulging shirts. 2006 July 15, “Tour de France 2006: Life is rarely dull among the bottle-carriers and peloton pushers”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 15 Mar 2016:
2. (archaic) A container for holding a liquid. ▸ A cup made of wood.
   • ["]Take a draught of my burgundy; bright as rubies. I never sell bad wines;—not I!—I know better than to drink them myself." He started and rose; and before he took the bidon [footnote †: “Little wooden drinking-cup.”], bowed to her, raising his cap with a grave courteous obeisance; a bow that had used to be noted in throne-rooms for its perfection of grace. 1867, Ouida [pseudonym; Maria Louise Ramé], “L’Amie du Drapeau”, in Under Two Flags: A Story of the Household and the Desert. […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, pages 13–14:
   • He took the bowl [containing red wine with bread broken in it] from her hands, and emptying a little of it into the wooden bidon that hung to her belt, kept that for himself, and stretching his arm across the straw, gave the bowl to Zackrist, who had watched it with the longing ravenous eyes of a starving wolf, and seized it with rabid avidity. 1867, Ouida [pseudonym; Maria Louise Ramé], “The Leathern Zackrist”, in Under Two Flags: A Story of the Household and the Desert. […], volume III, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, pages 53–54:
3. (archaic) A container for holding a liquid. ▸ An oil drum; a petrol can.
   • I saw that she had picked up an empty oil bidon that had been lying in the corner. I had bought it weeks before, for an oil lamp I had before I sold my things. […] They always make you pay a deposit on the bidon, and you get it back when the bidon is returned. But I'd forgotten all about it. […] She grabbed the bidon and went clattering down the stairs like a herd of elephants, and in three minutes she was back with two pounds of bread under one arm and a half-litre bottle of wine under the other. 1933 January 9, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter XV, in Down and Out in Paris and London, London: Victor Gollancz […], →OCLC, pages 115–116:

Forms

Hypernyms

sports bottle

Relateds

bidonville

Synonyms

jerrycan

Translations (22)

ru бидо́н (container for holding a liquid) · gl botella (bottle or flask for holding a beverage; water bottle, especially one designed for mounting on a bicycle) · fr bidon (bottle or flask for holding a beverage; water bottle, especially one designed for mounting on a bicycle) · cs bidon (bottle or flask for holding a beverage; water bottle, especially one designed for mounting on a bicycle) · es bidón (bottle or flask for holding a beverage; water bottle, especially one designed for mounting on a bicycle) · pl bidon (bottle or flask for holding a beverage; water bottle, especially one designed for mounting on a bicycle) · nl bidon (bottle or flask for holding a beverage; water bottle, especially one designed for mounting on a bicycle) · ro bidon (bottle or flask for holding a beverage; water bottle, especially one designed for mounting on a bicycle) · fi juomapullo (container for holding a liquid) · az bidon (container for holding a liquid) · fi juoma-astia (container for holding a liquid) · it bidone (container for holding a liquid) · az qıf (container for holding a liquid) · vi bi-đông (bottle or flask for holding a beverage; water bottle, especially one designed for mounting on a bicycle) · es bidón (container for holding a liquid) · gl bidón (container for holding a liquid) · cs bidon (container for holding a liquid) · mos bidu (container for holding a liquid) · el μπιτόνι (container for holding a liquid) · km ប៊ីដុង (bottle or flask for holding a beverage; water bottle, especially one designed for mounting on a bicycle) · pt bidão (container for holding a liquid) · fi juomapullo (bottle or flask for holding a beverage; water bottle, especially one designed for mounting on a bicycle)